About The Jazz Trumpet Etudes

Howie Shear — Jazz educator, improviser, and composer

Twice a month we will be posting a new Jazz Trumpet Improvisation Etude composed by Howie Shear. Each etude will be based on the chord changes of a different jazz standard and will comprise two complete solo choruses.

These etudes will focus on different aspects of trumpet playing and jazz improvisation techniques. They can be played as stand alone exercises but, for best results, we suggest playing along with an Aebersold or another play-along track, allowing you can hear how the melodic ideas work with the chord changes.

The concepts utilized in these solos are presented in Howie Shear’s books Jazz Improvisation – Simplified and Bebop Vocabulary,which are tools that help you develop your own jazz vocabulary that you can use during improvisation. The goal of these etudes is to show how the simple ideas Howie outlines in his books can be applied and developed in a jazz solo format.

Jazz Trumpet Solo Improvisation Etude #8: “It Could Happen to You”

This etude features two choruses over “It Could Happen to You”. This solo focuses on the following:

About Howie Shear

Howie Shear received a Bachelors in Education from Fredonia State University in 1975 and a Masters in Jazz Studies from the Eastman School of Music in 1977. He received his Doctorate in Music from the University of Southern California in 2002. He studied with James F. Burke and Raymond Crisara. Howie toured with the Woody Herman Band as lead trumpet player & featured soloist in 1980. After the tour he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a studio musician and soloist. Among the extensive list of artists he has worked with are: The Chuck Mangione Orchestra, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Mel Torme, The Temptations, and The Spinners. He was the musical arranger and lead trumpet player on the Joan Rivers Late Night Show. Howie has also played various shows at the Ahmanson Theater and many jazz festivals around the world where he has held trumpet clinics. Arranger and producer of various jazz albums, Howie currently has his own jazz quartet. His classical work includes playing with brass quintets and choirs, solo church work, and solo work in the studios.

Howie Shear is professor of Jazz Trumpet at California State University: Northridge.

We have four copies of Malcolm McNab’s CDs to give away to four lucky podcast listeners. In order to win one of these CDs, leave a comment on this post that mentions your favorite part of Malcolm’s interview. We will choose four comments at random and contact the winners through Facebook. Each winner will receive one autographed copy of either Exquisite or TheInfinite Trumpet. Comment must be posted by Monday, May 20th at 12:00pm Pacific Time to be eligible.

**Please note: we have changed our commenting system since recording this podcast, so you must have a free Facebook account to comment. In the podcast we say to leave your email — this is no longer necessary! We will contact you directly through Facebook if you win.

About Malcolm McNab

Malcolm McNab in his home studio.

Malcolm McNab has been playing trumpet for over 60 years, and in the Hollywood studios for over 40 of those. Malcolm grew up in Southern California and studied with James “Jimmy” Stamp who he credits as being his most influential teacher.

He has been the first trumpet on over 2000 motion pictures over his career. His solo trumpet playing can be heard on movies such as Dances With Wolves, Cars, L.A. Confidential, Independence Day, and The Gambler.

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Next month we will be heading to Grand Rapids, MI for the 2013 International Trumpet Guild Conference. The conference runs from June 11th to the 15th, and will be full of great performances, clinics, and lectures. Be sure to swing by the Bob Reeves Brass booth to meet Bob, Brett, and John!

New 1C Classical Trumpet Mouthpiece Model!

Bob Reeves Prototype 1-1/2C from the new Classical Series

Since our new Classical Series mouthpieces were released last year they have been quite popular with players from all over. This year at the ITG conference we will be releasing the 1C Classical Series mouthpiece. Be sure to swing by and try it!

Valve alignment

Have you always wanted a Bob Reeves Patented Valve Alignment but didn’t want to ship your trumpet to our shop? You’re in luck because we’ll be doing alignments at the ITG Conference. Just drop your horn off at our booth and you can pick it up the next day! Bob configured a travel lathe that we can take on the road allowing us to do most of the things that we can do in our shop.

We will be having a valve alignment special at the show in honor of our 45 years in business — all alignments will be $45 off! We are only doing a limited number of alignments and reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Book Early = Save More Money!

If you book your alignment and prepay for it now, you will save an additional $25 for a total savings of $70. If you want to secure your alignment slot now, you can click here to place a pre-order. Please note: there will be no refunds on pre-orders and your card will be charged when we receive the order. If for some reason you will be unable to be at the ITG conference, the credit from your pre-order can be used for any future work at out shop.

If you’re not sure you need an alignment, you can bring your trumpet by our booth and we will be happy to measure it to show you how far out of alignment it is free of charge.

Trumpet Consultations

Bob Reeves consulting with a customer at a previous ITG conference

Our staff will be available during the entire conference for mouthpiece and equipment consultation. For those players who live far away from LA, this is a great opportunity to meet Bob Reeves and garner some of his knowledge and stories! Brett and John will also be available during the show for equipment consultations (although their stories are not nearly as entertaining as Bob’s!).

Podcasting on the road!

For the first time ever, we will be taking our podcast, The Other Side of the Bell, on the road with us to the ITG. We will have our recording equipment at our booth and will be recording

Mouthpieces, mouthpieces, and more mouthpieces

350 Trumpet Mouthpieces at the ITG Conference

If you have never visited our booth at a trade show before, you are in for a real treat. We bring everything but the kitchen sink. Here’s a partial list of stuff we will have for you to try (and buy!) at the show:

175+ Bob Reeves Mouthpieces, including complete lines of 692s, 2, 69, 692 series mouthpieces and popular 692sL and ‘s’ series mouthpieces

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Welcome to the show notes for Episode #3 of The Other Side Of The Bell – A Trumpet Podcast. This episode features Bob Reeves telling stories about famed trumpet player Bud Brisbois. Then, John Snell sits down for a trumpet talk with Jay Daversa.

Jay Daversa

Bob Reeves with trumpet player Jay Daversa during a recent visit.

Jay Daversa sits down with our own John Snell to share his experiences over decades of playing the trumpet. Jay started out at a very young age performing on TV with dance bands. After serving time in the military, Jay joined Stan Kenton’s band as the jazz trumpeter. Since then, Jay has toured with some of the world’s largest artists (Elvis, Barbara Streisand), and has performed on hundreds of TV and Movie soundtracks.

Jay has an album out that is available from CDBaby and on iTunes. He is also available for internet trumpet lessons. Check out his web site – www.jaydaversa.com – for more information.

Here’s a rare video of Jay in a 1957 television appearance that he discusses in his interview:

John Clyman

John Clyman was a virtuoso trumpet player. He was principal trumpet in the L.A. Philharmonic, then went on to a long career as first trumpet in the 20th Century Fox studio orchestra. His sound can be heard in thousands of movies, and was one of the first to record the famed 20th Century Fox fanfare.

Bob Reeves first met John as one of his trumpet students. John Clyman was instrumental in fostering Bob’s talents and was the one that got Bob’s machining career of the ground. Bob and John were close friends the rest of John’s life.

About The Jazz Trumpet Etudes

Howie Shear — Jazz educator, improviser, and composer

Twice a month we will be posting a new Jazz Trumpet Improvisation Etude composed by Howie Shear. Each etude will be based on the chord changes of a different jazz standard and will comprise two complete solo choruses.

These etudes will focus on different aspects of trumpet playing and jazz improvisation techniques. They can be played as stand alone exercises but, for best results, we suggest playing along with an Aebersold or another play-along track, allowing you can hear how the melodic ideas work with the chord changes.

The concepts utilized in these solos are presented in Howie Shear’s books Jazz Improvisation – Simplified and Bebop Vocabulary,which are tools that help you develop your own jazz vocabulary that you can use during improvisation. The goal of these etudes is to show how the simple ideas Howie outlines in his books can be applied and developed in a jazz solo format.

Jazz Trumpet Solo Improvisation Etude #7: “Up Jumped Spring”

This etude features two choruses over “Up Jumped Spring”. This solo focuses on the following:

About Howie Shear

Howie Shear received a Bachelors in Education from Fredonia State University in 1975 and a Masters in Jazz Studies from the Eastman School of Music in 1977. He received his Doctorate in Music from the University of Southern California in 2002. He studied with James F. Burke and Raymond Crisara. Howie toured with the Woody Herman Band as lead trumpet player & featured soloist in 1980. After the tour he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a studio musician and soloist. Among the extensive list of artists he has worked with are: The Chuck Mangione Orchestra, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Mel Torme, The Temptations, and The Spinners. He was the musical arranger and lead trumpet player on the Joan Rivers Late Night Show. Howie has also played various shows at the Ahmanson Theater and many jazz festivals around the world where he has held trumpet clinics. Arranger and producer of various jazz albums, Howie currently has his own jazz quartet. His classical work includes playing with brass quintets and choirs, solo church work, and solo work in the studios.

Howie Shear is professor of Jazz Trumpet at California State University: Northridge.